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“So she was the threat that Bigfoot dreamed about?”
“I’m getting to it.”
* * *
Irwin’s expression had darkened again, into a glower almost exactly like River Shoulders’s, and he stood up.
Connie was frowning at me as she was abruptly displaced. “Don’t know wh—oof, Pounder!”
“We’re done,?
? Irwin said to me. His voice wasn’t exactly threatening, but it was absolutely certain, and his leashed anger all but made the air crackle. “Nice to see you again, Harry. Tell my dad to call. Or write. Or do anything but try to tell me how to live my life.”
Connie blinked at him. “Wait … wait, what’s wrong?”
Irwin left a few twenties on the table, and said, “We’re going.”
“What? What happened?”
“We’re going,” Irwin said. This time, he did sound a little angry.
Connie’s bewilderment suddenly shifted into some flavor of outrage. She narrowed her lovely eyes, and snapped, “I am not your pet, Pounder.”
“I’m not trying to…” Irwin took a slow, deep breath, and said, more calmly, “I’m upset. I need some space. I’ll explain when I calm down. But we need to go.”
She folded her arms, and said, “Go calm down, then. But I’m not going to be rude to our guest.”
Irwin looked at me, and said, “We going to have a problem?”
Wow. The kid had learned a lot about the world since the last time I’d seen him. He recognized that I wasn’t a playful puppy dog. He realized that if I’d been sent to protect him, and I thought Connie was a threat, that I might do something about it. And he’d just told me that if I did, he was going to object. Strenuously. No protests, no threats, just letting me know that he knew the score and was willing to do something about it if I made him. The guys who are seriously capable handle themselves like that.
“No problem,” I said, and made it a promise. “If I think something needs to be done, we’ll talk first.”
The set of his shoulders eased, and he nodded at me. Then he turned and stalked out. People watched him go, warily.
Connie shook her head slowly, and asked, “What did you say?”
“Um,” I said. “I think he feels like his dad is intruding on his life.”
“You don’t say.” She shook her head. “That’s not your fault. He’s usually so collected. Why is he acting like such a jerk?”
“Issues,” I said, shrugging. “Everyone has a parental issue or two.”
“Still. It’s beneath him to behave that way.” She shook her head. “Sometimes he makes me want to slap him. But I’d need to get a chair to stand on.”
“I don’t take it personally,” I assured her. “Don’t worry.”
“It was about me,” she said quietly. “Wasn’t it? It’s about something I don’t know.”
“Um,” I said.
It was just possible that maybe I’d made a bad call when I decided to meddle between River and his kid. It wasn’t my place to shake the pillars of Irwin’s life. Or Connie’s, for that matter. It was going to be hard enough on her to find out about her supernatural heritage. She didn’t need to have the news broken to her by a stranger, on top of that. You’d think that, after years as a professional, I’d know enough to just take River’s money, help out his kid, and call it a night.
“Maybe we should walk?” I suggested.
“Sure.”
We left and started walking the streets of downtown Norman. The place was alive and growing, like a lot of college towns: plenty of old buildings, some railroad tracks, lots of cracks in the asphalt and the sidewalks. The shops and restaurants had that improvised look that a business district gets when it outlives its original intended purpose and subsequent generations of enterprise take over the space.
